Wichita, KS- Michael Thompson led off the 12th inning with a double and scored on a wild pitch, giving the Wingnuts a 3-2 victory over the Lincoln Saltdogs on Tuesday at Lawrence Dumont Stadium - their second straight extra inning win.
Wichita starter Will Savage had another tremendous start, but found himself trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning. Meanwhile Lincoln starter Justin Knoff - making just his third start - threw a gem for 7 2/3 innings, but left with a 1-0 lead and the tying run on third. Reliever Adam Daniels though came in and allowed a game-tying single to Nick Blasi on his very first pitch. Savage pitched a scoreless ninth to give himself a chance at the win, but Wichita failed to score in the bottom of the inning, forcing extra innings.
In the 10th, Lincoln put together a walk and two hits, but Blasi threw out Phil Hawke at the plate after a Shawn Mcgill single to preserve the tie and record the second out of the inning. Wingnuts reliever Joe D'Allesandro, however; uncorked a wild pitch while trying to intentionally walk Gavin Dickey, allowing Rafael Alvarez to score the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the inning, the Wingnuts put three hits together off Lincoln closer Chris Thompson - who leads the league with 30 saves - and then re-tied the game on a sacrifice fly by Greg Porter.
Justin Young pitched a scoreless 12th to earn the victory. Thompson had three hits for the Wingnuts and scored all three runs, while Porter went 2-4 with an RBI. Adam Cowart will get the start as Wichita hosts Lincoln again on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. in the season finale. For tickets call the Wingnuts office at (316) 264-4625.
-Wingnuts-
